This invention is in the field of receiving and delivering articles utilizing automated lockers as the delivery vehicle.
In the busy lives of today""s society time has become the most sought after commodity. With many two income families, receiving packages at home for deliveries and dropping off items for services such as laundry has become difficult. With no time to spare, many order goods through the use of the Internet for home delivery.
On the other hand, delivery companies also suffer, as they very often have to make several trips to deliver and obtain signature. Providing locker systems where consumers can pick up packages and drop off items located at convenient locations can alleviate this problem. These locations can be 24-hour convenience stores or daily visited metro stations, gas stations, etc. However, for a system to be successful it needs to be broad based, encompassing a multitude of vendors and delivery systems both local and national. This of course requires system access to the computers of these vendors and delivery firms. Since most companies use different computer systems and specialized software, it will require tremendous system changes in all these companies to adapt to this delivery system, rendering it impractical. The system shown of the instant invention overcomes these difficulties and provides a delivery communication system that can be accessed by both vendors and consumers both for delivery and pickup.
A variety of locker delivery systems exist. The systems described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,010,064 (Umeda et al.), 4,894,717 (Komei) and 5,475,378 (Kaarsoo, et al.) are believed to have some relevance to this invention. The system described in the Komei patent is designed to accept package deliveries by a number of different delivery companies, for the residents of an apartment building. A receipt is printed by the delivery person and inserted into the mailbox of the recipient, and this is later used by the recipient in retrieving the article from the locker. The system relies on the existence of a mailbox and an error free placement of the slip into the correct mailbox by the delivery person.
The system described in the Umeda patent is designed to process film dropped in by the consumer and later picked up at the same location, providing a xe2x80x9cDrop off/Pick upxe2x80x9d facility for a single vendor of a film developing service.
Karsoo et al. describes a system for distribution of mail in an office complex, for example, wherein the mailboxes are accessed by use of an access card. Similar to a door access control system, the card can be re-programmed (in case of dismissal of an employee, for example).
There are numerous other electronically controlled systems that allow lockers to be used for temporary storage, such as those used in airports and train stations. These systems are not designed to provide for deliveries.
The instant invention enables efficient use of a locker system that provides access to recipients of deliveries and multitude delivery and service companies and provides instant tracking of packages, pickups and deliveries. The object of the present invention is to provide a communication system supporting deliveries to recipients at convenient locations delivered by a multitude of vendors and delivery companies. Another object of the invention is to provide a convenient to use electronic reservation, control and information system for returns of goods received and drop off of serviceable items such as laundry and film development. Another object of the invention is to provide access to the locker system via multiple channels including Internet providing multi-level connectivity to the system.